furniture

The Association of the German Furniture Industry ("Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie" - VDM) is the largest industry association within the Hauptverband der Deutschen Holzindustrie (HDH). The VDM represents German furniture manufacturers indirectly, because its members are the trade bodies of the furniture industry. The main task of the VDM is to protect and represent the economic, political and technical interests of the furniture industry vis-a-vis politicians, trade unions and the public. The Association works at Federal level and also maintains active contact with other European industry associations.

The German furniture industry

The German furniture industry is expected to complete the year 2017 with a generally stable sales development. After three years of strong growth, the domestic furniture industry was able to maintain its high level, even though the industry's sales growth slowed in the course of 2017. For 2017 as a whole, we anticipate stable sales development and a sales value of just under € 18 billion.

After ten months - ie up to and including the end of October - the sector statistics showed a slightly negative result of minus 0.2 percent with a total turnover of € 14.8 billion. This result for the first ten months of 2017 is as follows:

After the record level in the previous year, the German kitchen manufacturers recorded a decline of 3.3 percent to € 3.9 billion in sales. The office, shop and contract furniture segment posted sales of just under € 3.3 billion, up 0.8 percent. In mattresses, a decline in sales of 2.9 percent to almost € 730 million was recorded. For the upholstered furniture industry, official statistics, which only cover developments at the German production sites, show a decline in sales of 3.4 percent to around € 810 million. The other Furniture segment posted an increase in sales of 2 percent to € 6.1 billion. This largest segment of the industry includes in the official evaluation of living, dining and bedroom furniture and small furniture, non-upholstered seating and furniture parts.

The average number of furniture manufacturers producing in Germany in the first ten months was 492 - their number was also slightly lower than in the same period of the previous year due to bankruptcies in the industry (-1.3 percent). The number of employees also reduced only slightly by 0.3 percent to 83,960.

Within the Association of the German Furniture Industry there are other trade bodies, which represent individual segments of the furniture industry. These include, among others, the Association of the German Upholstered Furniture Industry (Verband der Deutschen Polstermöbelindustrie - VdDP), the Association Interior Business Association (Industrieverband Büro und Arbeitswelt e. V. - IBA) and the Association of the German Domestic Furniture Industry (Verband der Deutschen Wohnmöbelindustrie - VdDW).